Biogeographia – The Journal of Integrative Biogeography 35 (2020): 105-116 https://doi.org/10.21426/B635048444 Morphology, ecology, and biogeography of Myrmecina sicula André, 1882, rediscovered after 140 years (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) ENRICO SCHIFANI1,*, ANTONIO SCUPOLA2, ANTONIO ALICATA3 1Department of Chemistry, Life Sciences and Environmental Sustainability (SCVSA), University of Parma, Parco Area delle Scienze 11/A, I-43124 Parma (Italy) - http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0684-6229 2Museo civico di Storia Naturale di Verona, Lungadige Porta Vittoria 9, I-37129 Verona (Italy) 3Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences (DBGES), University of Catania, Via Androne 81, I-95124 Catania (Italy) *corresponding author:
[email protected] Keywords: Allopatric speciation, Maghreb, paleoendemics, Paleo-Tyrrhenian distribution, Sardinia, short-range endemics (SRE), Sicily, vicariance. SUMMARY The ant genus Myrmecina, whose diversity is mostly concentrated in SE-Asia and Oceania, counts four W-Palearctic species. The extremely euryecious and well-studied Myrmecina graminicola occurs from Iberia to the Caucasus and from the Maghreb to Scandinavia, while three little-known species (M. atlantis, M. melonii and M. sicula) coexist with M. graminicola in their narrow Maghrebian, Sardinian and Sicilian ranges, respectively. Myrmecina sicula has been described about 140 years ago from a single site and two specimens only. Their unique morphology suggested the validity of this taxon ever since, but no additional specimens were found in the following century. We present the results of decades of sampling efforts across Sicily, resulting in the collection of M. graminicola from 70 sites and M. sicula from 13 sites. We confirm M. sicula unique morphological identity and report on the marked distributional and ecological differences between the two species.